denim patchwork skirts

Years ago, they advertised on a quilt program on public TV that they would do a skirt out of blue jeans. What they did was make fabric of jeans and then use a commercial pattern to cut it out. It had an elastic waist. Many experienced seamstresses know that elastic and heavy fabrics is not a good combination. So I sulked for a month until I figured out to cut a pair of jeans off below the waist. Wala, the yoke of the skirt. Then I cut six gores out of the legs of three pairs of jeans having the side seam in the middle of the gore. The top of the gore was at the ankle. Yeah I had my skirt. But then it mushroomed since I was able to get jeans at $.25 apiece. I got a wardrobe of solid skirts. Then I branched out with these four more interesting skirts. I have worn them for years and they never go out of style. Sorry no tute, easy to do but too hard to explain in words.

On the front one there are pockets around the bottom. You can see the quilt expo ticket and my charge card sticking out of two of them. I have my money and charge card in one that buttons at the bottom in the front. It makes it rather hard to pickpocket. There is one on the back left side that will hold and open can of pop and not spill while I walk. But of course you can't bend down without spilling it. The beige one is futon fabric scraps from a local factory.

Yes the yoke of the skirt is made by cutting jeans off just below the zipper. So immediately I have a yoke that has the zipper in, the pockets in and the waist band on. Before I cut, I do remove the back pockets partially and the front pockets inside are folded up so I don't cut through those. Then I measured the edge around the hip area. I decided I wanted six gores. So I divided that measurement of the hip area of the yoke by the six gores. and I added seam allowances. I made the gore at the bottom six inches wider than the top. It was fast and easy to do. I did the first solid skirt in an afternoon.

Originally Posted by dunster

So basically the waist of the jeans is the waist of the skirt. Brilliant. (As long as the jeans still fit, LOL)